Friends
This morning we had more earnings reports from retailers and we had similar responses to the numbers as we had yesterday. Both Lowe’s and TJ Maxx had nice numbers and their shares moved nicely higher after the release. But Target’s shares like Walmart’s the day before slumped after their earnings release, which on the surface looked pretty darn good. Interestingly, both Walmart and Target had some margin pressures as they were reluctant to pass on higher costs to the consumer. In the real world both companies should be applauded for attempting to keep prices down for consumers. On Wall Street the reaction is a bit different.
As for the market averages, it was a slightly difficult day for the bulls. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 211 points to finish the day at 35,931. The S&P 500 was down 12 points to close at 4,688. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 52 points to close at 15,921. Gold was up $13 to trade at $1,867 per ounce, while oil was down $2.33 to trade at $78.43 per barrel WTI.
So far so good with regards to earnings for the retail sector. As a matter of fact it was an impressive earnings season all around. Stocks seems a little bit heavy here as we enter the holiday season, but the bulls have been firmly in charge for quite some time now and it’s been costly to bet against them. We’ll see if they can take this thing to the year-end finish line.
Have a nice evening everyone.
